Hollow roller having an apertured surface for treating the ground

ABSTRACT

A roller having an apertured surface for treating grounds, comprising a roller shaft to which is secured an endless screw which has at least one thread and may be continuous or discontinuous and is coaxial with the roller and has a height exceeding two-thirds of the radius of the roller, the apertured surface being secured to said screw.

United States Patent [191 Guerin Oct. 7, 1975 4] HOLLOW ROLLER HAVING AN 3,220,369 11/1965 Gandrud 404/124 X ER R SURFACE FOR TREATING 3,269,285 8/1966 Lathers 404/124 THE GROUND Adolphe M. Crete Guerin, 98 rue Nationale, Mezieres sur Seine (Yvelines), France Filed: Nov. 14, 1974 Appl. No.: 523,671

Inventor:

Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 22, 1973 France 73.41922 US. Cl 404/124; 404/131 lnt. Cl. E01C 19/26 Field of Search 404/124, 129, 131

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Schiel 404/124 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 791,975 3/1958 United Kingdom 404/124 Primary ExaminerNi1e C. Byers, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Marmaduke A. Hobbs [57] ABSTRACT A roller having an apertured surface for treating grounds, comprising a roller shaft to which is secured an endless screw which has at least one thread and may be continuous or discontinuous and is coaxial with the roller and has a height exceeding two-thirds of the radius of the roller, the apertured surface being secured to said screw.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct. 7,1975 3,910,712

FIGJ

HOLLOW ROLLER HAVING AN APERTURED SURFACE FOR TREATING THE GROUND The present invention relates to the treatment of grounds, in particular to render the surface very fine for the sowing of grounds such as landscape parks, marshlands or market gardening lands etc., and for the levelling and the loosening of certain grounds such as horse riding tracks or cinder tracks etc..

It is known that hollow rollers having an apertured surface permit. in association with a ground preparing apparatus, such as a rotary or reciprocating harrow, suitably treating certain grounds owing to the combined fining and rolling action they produce, as described, for example, in French Pat. No. 7129,5567.

These rollers are usually constituted by a grill rolled up in the form of a cylinder and fixed on a shaft by spacer members or radial cheeks. In the course of utilization of such a roller on damp ground, earth and stones enter the interior of the roller which they rather rapidly clog, since the roller is divided by the cheeks into a plurality of compartments which are independent from each other.

It has also been proposed to fix a grill or netting in the vicinity of the surface of a cylindrical roller by spacer members which are capable of constituting a screw and to employ a device having points which penetrate the mesh of the grill or netting and expel the materials which have penetrated between the cylinder and the grill. This apparatus, which is of complicated and expensive construction, is ineffective for many types of grounds and tends to become clogged since the points compress and agglutinate the earth without discharging it. Moreover, large stones oppose the action of the points and are liable to damage the apparatus.

An object of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks of known rollers by means of a now, simple and sturdy roller which may be employed in many types of grounds.

According to the invention there is provided a roller having an apertured surface for treating grounds, comprising a roller shaft on which is fixed an endless screw which has at least one thread and may be continuous or discontinuous and is coaxial with the roller and has a height exceeding two-thirds of the radius of the roller, the apertured surface being secured to said screw.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the endless screw is discontinuous and constituted by a plurality of radial blades fixed to the roller shaft and angularly and longitudinally offset from each other. In order to facilitate the discharge of the product which has penetrated the roller, the latter may be arranged to be closed at its ends by apertured cheeks.

The invention will be understood from the ensuing description whith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view, with a part cut away and partly in section, of one embodiment of a roller according to the invention, and

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the roller shown in FIG. 1, its support having been removed.

The roller comprises a shaft I mounted by rolling bearings 2 on a U-shaped support 3 the latter being secured by lugs 4 to the moving part of a jack (not shown) whose fixed part is mounted on a ground preparing apparatus (not shown), such as a rotary or reciprocating harrow hitched to a tractor.

Blades 5, which are angularly and longitudinally offset from each other and constitute an endless screw, are integral with the shaft 1 and their outer ends carry a cylindrical grill or netting 6 constituted by expanded metal 7 or bars 8 which are parallel to the shaft 1. This cylinder 6 is closed at both ends by cheeks 9. In the case where the screw constituted by the blades 5 has a single thread (as shown) the checks 9 have one solid half 10 and one apertured half 11.

The blades 5 may be arranged to constitute a screw which has one or more threads and is oriented toward one end of the roller or toward both ends thereof. The

3 jack to which the roller is connected permits an adjustment in the depth to which the associated preparing apparatus is driven into the ground so that it is possible to simultaneously adjust the density of the compacting effected by the roller and the working depth of the ground preparing apparatus.

What I claim is:

l. A roller having an apertured surface for treating grounds, comprising a roller shaft to which is secured an endless screw which has at least one thread and may be continuous or discontinuous and is coaxial with the roller and has a height exceeding two-thirds of the radius of the roller, the apertured surface being secured to said screw.

2. A roller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the screw is discontinuous and is constituted by a plurality of radial blades secured to the roller shaft and angularly and longitudinally offset from each other.

3. A roller as claimed in claim 2, wherein the roller is closed at its ends by apertured cheeks. 

1. A roller having an apertured surface for treating grounds, comprising a roller shaft to which is secured an endless screw which has at least one thread and may be continuous or discontinuous and is coaxial with the roller and has a height exceeding two-thirds of the radius of the roller, the apertured surface being secured to said screw.
 2. A roller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the screw is discontinuous and is constituted by a plurality of radial blades secured to the roller shaft and angularly and longitudinally offset from each other.
 3. A roller as claimed in claim 2, wherein the roller is closed at its ends by apertured cheeks. 